Allure of the Arctic on exhibit at New Bedford Whaling Museum

The allure of the Arctic is captured in two exhibits at the New Bedford Whaling Museum, “Arctic Visions: Away then Floats the Ice-Island” and “Following the Panther: Arctic Photographs of Rena Bass Forman.”

By Jody Feinberg

The Patriot Ledger, Quincy, MA

By Jody Feinberg

Posted May. 23, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated May 23, 2013 at 11:10 PM

By Jody Feinberg

Posted May. 23, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated May 23, 2013 at 11:10 PM

» Social News

The Arctic these days brings to mind melting glaciers and polar bears stranded on ice floes. But 150 years ago, it was a vast uncharted region whose pull was so great that explorers and artists risked their lives to travel there.

The allure of the Arctic then and now is captured in two exhibits at the New Bedford Whaling Museum, “Arctic Visions: Away then Floats the Ice-Island” and “Following the Panther: Arctic Photographs of Rena Bass Forman.”

In “Arctic Visions,” the viewer sees the Arctic through the works and words of 19th century renown Fairhaven painter William Bradford and photographers John. L. Dunmore, and George P. Critcherson, who journeyed there together in 1869 on board the steamer The Panther.

“People will see the beautiful paintings and the photography, but they also will see the historical context for thinking about what’s happening to the ice because of climate change,” said exhibit curator Michael Lapides, who has created a website to accompany the exhibit, www.whalingmuseum-arcticvisions.org

“Following the Panther” exhibits the black and white gelatin prints of glaciers and icebergs taken by the late photographer Rena Bass Forman in 2006, as she traveled by boat and helicopter. Her richly detailed images, about 3 feet square, capture the majesty and individuality of massive ice formations.

“Something about the vast whiteness and the light really spoke to her,” said painter Zaria Forman, who was with her mother when she shot the images on exhibit. “She could stay on the ice and in the cold for hours on end. She felt she was trying to convey a contemporary version of what Bradford had done and also documenting climate change.”

Rena Bass Forman had planned another Arctic trip actually retracing Bradford’s voyage, but she died of brain cancer at age 57 in 2011. In her memory, her family organized “Chasing the Light,” a voyage last summer taken by about a dozen artists who painted, photographed and filmed as they followed Bradford’s route, stopping at the exact spots photographed by Bradford.

Visitors can see some of the artwork from Chasing the Light in the gallery, where Zaria Forman and painter Lisa Lebofsky work on their paintings as the museum’s artists in residence through May 22.

Before his three-month journey up the west coast of Greenland, Bradford was a widely revered nautical painter, and some of these paintings can be seen in another new exhibit at the museum, “Harbor Views.” But he broke new ground when he turned his attention to the Arctic, becoming one of the first American painters to render what he called its “awful grandeur,” “wild, strange and rugged icy forms that defy description,” and their “glossy, glistening, satin” surfaces. And he was the first to collaborate with professional photographers, when photography was in its infancy.

Page 2 of 2 - In the mid-19th century, Arctic exploration was comparable to the 20th century exploration of space, said Lapides, the museum’s photography curator and director of digital initiatives. By including wall text of Bradford’s written observations as well as background on the period’s obsession with the Arctic, Lapides conveys the sense of wonder experienced by the public, scientists and artists.

The exhibit is dramatic, with Bradford’s 1866 10-by-7 foot painting “Sealers Crushed by Icebergs,” as well as paintings of a polar bear felled by hunters and of an iceberg glowing in Arctic light. The reality is heightened by the juxtaposition of the paintings with the photographs, such as The View of the Sermitsialik Glacier, enlarged to recreate the sense of scale between glacier and human.

Along with 19th century cameras and equipment, two rare items on exhibit are historically significant. In a glass case, visitors can see “The Arctic Regions,” the leather bound folio in which Bradford described his expedition to Greenland and published the photographs taken by Dunmore and Critcherson. Only about 300 copies were printed in 1873, funded by subscribers who included Queen Victoria of England. Visitors can read the digital version in the exhibit or the hardcover book published to accompany it.

The other rare item is The Resolute Desk, one of only four made from the timbers of the 1854 shipwreck of The Resolute, a British Arctic exploration ship that tried unsuccessfully to find Sir John Franklin, a British explorer searching for the Northwest Passage. Another desk made from the timbers was brought to the Oval Office by President John F. Kennedy and is used by President Barack Obama today.

IF YOU GO . . . .

“Arctic Visions: Away then Floats the Ice-Island” runs through April 2014 at The New Bedford Whaling Museum, 18 Johnny Cake Hill, New Bedford. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, and admission is $14 adults, $12 seniors, $9 students, $6 children, and free ages 5 and under. Free from 5 to 9 p.m. the second Thursday of every month. For information, go to www.whalingmuseum.org.